Prentice J. Sargeant
Social Studies: Licensure 6-12
Learning Environment
An active learning environment is one of the most crucial aspects of the educator’s job. Without creating a safe, friendly space for students to share ideas and learn new concepts, education itself is an unattainable goal. To demonstrate a mastery of this standard, educators must first have a set standard of procedures in the classroom, beginning with the daily schedule that should be posted on a daily basis. Second, teachers need to be able to solidify routines early on in the school year, so that distractions caused by basic classroom interruptions, such as bathroom breaks, visitors to the classroom, and fire drills are minimized after the first few weeks of school. Third, educators should be able to teach the students in a variety of settings, including whole group instruction, small group instruction, and individual instruction, when needed.
Daily Schedule:
It is important to have a set timetable for every class, so that learning time is maximized and distractions are minimized. In each of my lessons, I plan out an estimated amount of time for every activity, to ensure that we have enough time in class to cover all of the new material of the day. To demonstrate this need for timeliness to the students, I write a Daily Schedule everyday on the chalkboard. Students understand that we have to stay on point throughout the class to ensure that we accomplish everything that we set out to do.
Routines and Procedures:
There are numerous ways in which class time is interrupted and in order to minimize distractions, teachers need to have routines and procedures in place. Among the most common interruptions are students needing to leave the room, whether to use the restroom, get water, visit the nurse, or stop by the main office. In my classroom, I ensured that any student that needed to leave the room would first raise his or her hand, ask to leave, and then sign out of the classroom in a notebook by the door. Only one student was allowed out of the classroom at the time, unless there was a special circumstance requiring otherwise.
Here are some examples of a student demonstrating this procedure:
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To see more examples of how I handle some common classroom interruptions, please refer to my Classroom Management Plan.
Instructional Groups:
Inside of a classroom, instruction can take place in a variety of ways. Most commonly is whole group, in which the teacher might lecture or lead the class in a group discussion. Another version is small group work, in which students are divided into groups to complete an assignment on their own. And finally, there is individualized instruction, in which the teacher works one-on-one with a student. All three instructional sizes can be useful for different situations, so educators must be able to teach in all three settings.
Whole group instruction is common in history classes in the form of lectures, but I enjoyed utilizing this style in class discussions. Among those that I lead, the one that stands out was the discussion on the atomic bomb and its impact on the end of World War II. Students argued for both sides of Harry Truman’s decision: it did end the war, but was the sacrifice worth it?
Small groups can be a fantastic way to divide up a class and have each group learn a facet of a lesson to share with their classmates. I utilized this strategy many times, but the most successful was the Early Cold War Primary Sources Analysis. Students were divided into six groups and two groups would read one of three sources relating to the beginning the Cold War. After reading those sources and answering questions, students would then switch groups (at my direction) and share their answers with each other, showing the relationship between the three sources, written by Churchill, Stalin, and Truman.
Individualized instruction is less utilized, but just as important as the other two settings. It can be of particular importance when a student needs extra help outside of a normal class time. My supervising teacher and I set up a period of remediation for students who were struggling some of the content. We both worked one-on-one with students to ensure that they were getting the extra help they needed.
Contact Information:
Prentice J. Sargeant
prentice.sargeant@gmail.com
540-797-8373